Lynn Green

Tag: Youth With A Mission

  • Happy Birthday To Me!

    Happy Birthday To Me!

    Photo ©Pixabay

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    Join me in celebrating my 43rd birthday!  I woke up this morning feeling so energetic and fit that I decided that is what I am—43 years old.

    Never mind that I have some numbers and words written on a birth certificate that says I am in my 71st year.  Those are just scribbles on paper. I choose to self-identify myself 43 because that is what I feel.  I haven’t had any heart arrhythmia issues for 6 months, my energy levels are up and I feel great.  I am really grateful for that, so I would like everybody to join in with me to celebrate my 43rd birthday.

    You may think that I am just making a feeble joke here and perhaps I am.  On the other hand I was thinking about the 69 year old who has been in the papers recently.  He is taking legal action to get his original birth date changed so that he can legally be 49 on his tinder profile, because he is not attracting young enough women to his site.  He figures if he is 49 then more younger women will read his profile.  Good luck with that, Mister!

    AM I JUST BEING SILLY?

    The thing is, most people read that in the newspaper or online and they think it’s silly and dismiss it.  But is it that easy?

    Here is the big question: why do we not take that seriously, but we feel we must take it seriously when a person, who is male, self-identifies as female or a female identifying as male.

    What is the reasonable basis for making a distinction? I am not trying to alienate anybody here; I just want to know how we, as a society based upon law, can make a distinction.  Is it because one seems frivolous, superficial and self-interested but the other must be sincere?  How can we know who is sincere and who is not.  More importantly, how can the law decide that.  How can society decide that?  What is the basis?

    I am really serious about this; it is an issue of great importance to those of us who live in Western democracies.  Do we have any grounds for over-ruling feelings that are sincere and deeply held without doubt?  Why do we feel we must take gender dysphoria seriously but not age dysphoria?  On what basis do we think that?

    I’M NOT INTENDING TO OFFEND

    I know that writing about this is going to seem offensive for some people, but the trouble is we have been assuming feelings are more important than more objective reality for a long time.  I can say that my birthday was assigned to me by the medical profession, so it’s only a date when they say I was born.   Or I can say that my biological gender was assigned to me at birth.  But actually both my date of birth and my sex are objective realities.  There were many people who could witness that I was born a male on April 14, 1948.

    Some people claim that the sex of a baby is often not clear, but that is not true.  There may be one child in 5000 where gender is not clear at birth.  Even then, the chromosomes are almost always clear one way or another.  Gender, or more accurately sex, is not assigned at birth, it is observed.

    IF I AM SUFFICIENTLY SINCERE, IS IT TRUE?

    Let me hasten to say that I am not suggesting here that we don’t take it seriously and compassionately when a person feels their body sexual identity does not match their feelings about their gender.  But neither can we simply agree that the greater truth will always be in their self-identity.  This purely subjective approach to truth will not work for us.  We won’t be able to live with it.  If we decide that deeply-held beliefs trump observed reality, we will unleash chaos.  Such an approach would require our courts to decide whether or not someone holds a particular belief about themselves deeply enough to let it take precedence over objective realities.  And that would be entirely unworkable.

    Many humanities courses in our Universities have promoted this subjective approach to truth for several decades and now we are experiencing consequences.  It is based on the philosophical idea that objects cannot generate truth; truth “is in the eye of the beholder”.  In other words, reality is what we perceive it to be.  There is some truth in that, but by carrying that idea to the extreme we end up with an unlivable world.  When each person decides what is true for themselves, nothing is true.

    HOW CAN WE KNOW?

    Is there a way out of this?  Of course!  There was a time when it was assumed that all truth came only by revelation, so art and philosophy centered round revelation from God.  There is some truth in that too, but it is insufficient.

    Then we gradually transitioned into a new epoch in which people decided that all reality has to be determined by the scientific method.  That is, anything that is true must be verifiable by objective means: experiments must be possible and the resulting data will prove or disprove the proposed truth. That method is also insufficient.  It can often tell us “what or how” but it cannot tell us “why”.

    As a Biblical Christian, I believe in revelation and I also believe in the great value of the scientific method.  When we put those two together, we have a means of knowing what is true.  Human beings can still receive revelation from God.  As the philosopher, Dr Francis Schaeffer said in the title of one of his books, “He is There and He is Not Silent”.  We have also expanded our knowledge hugely over the past two centuries by using the scientific method.  We put those two together and we have a basis for truth that we can live with.

    TRUTH IS LIVEABLE

    All philosophies for life, or presuppositions, have to be evaluated by living them. Post-modern, relativistic thinking leads to chaos.  Religious tyranny springs from claims that all truth comes only by divine revelation.  The scientific method alone provides no answers to the really big issues of life.  We must regain confidence in the idea that there are universal truths and then live by them.

    So am I 43? Well, on another day I might feel like I am 78, so I will just go with the numbers on my birth certificate.  I’m nearer 71 than 70 and I’m just very grateful for the health and energy I am experiencing.

    Lynn Green.

  • Coffee with Lynn

    Coffee with Lynn

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    We are excited to share with you a new video series with Lynn Green, which has been produced in partnership with YWAM Harpenden. He has been part of YWAM for more than 45 years and is the former Executive Chairman of YWAM. In this first video, he will be discussing with Clare Mulrooney, leadership in YWAM and some of our changes around eldership.

    Home

  • How does God Speak?

    How does God Speak?

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    Or, how do I hear God better?  After decades of meeting with countless thousands of Christians all over the world, I guess those questions must be in the top five questions committed Christians ask.  The Holy Spirit is endlessly creative, so no description of His voice or explanation of how He works can encompass the reality.  But that doesn’t mean there is nothing to say on the subject.

    My personal experience is that God speaks in countless ways and has probably spoken in some ways that I have missed completely.  There is no doubt that He speaks to those who are tuned in to Him, dependent on His word and consciously paying attention.

    AN EGYPTIAN PROPHECIES

    Earlier this week God spoke to me in a way that would be hard to miss.  A number of Egyptian Christians visited us here at the Harpenden campus.  We had planned two days of prayer and seeking God for the United Kingdom.  I was expectant for the nation, but did not expect to hear anything for me personally.  Then, in the first hour of a small leadership meeting scheduled before the main meetings started, one of the Egyptians began to prophecy over me!  It was a wonderful few minutes as this man, whom I didn’t really know, repeated several prophetic words I have received before—promises of long life, of very fruitful ministry to the nations for many years to come, and much more.  What an encouragement!  God likes to do that for all His children.  He is an encourager by nature.  (I might add that is the reason why Paul writes that we should all desire to prophecy.  God wants more outlets for His encouragement.)

    When the word of the Lord comes that way, it is hard to miss.  However, it is easy to fail to receive and remember it.  One of my regrets is that sometimes the Lord has spoken through prophecy and I thought I would remember it well, but ended up forgetting much of what was said.  In the meeting earlier this week, I took notes as fast as I could and was then relieved that one of the others in the meeting was recording it.

    WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED?

    One of the most unusual ways God has spoken to me happened just about a year ago.  A very kind and godly accountant in my home town has done our tax returns for many years.  Whenever we are back there, we plan to take him to lunch, or at least coffee.  During the course of our lunch last October, we talked about the changes in the YWAM leadership and leadership structures.  He was really interested, so I suggested he could watch a video I had done on the subject.

    He emailed me the next morning and this is part of his message:

    “I thought I’d see what you were referring to, but before I got there I watched this one.

    https://youtu.be/v7S1UQxMC50 .  

    Would you re-watch it and then let me know if God says anything to you?”

     I was intrigued and clicked on the link right away.  To my surprise I saw a video I had made several years ago (when I looked much younger!) and, YES, God did speak to me through it.

    If some Bible teacher was speaking on hearing God’s voice, I’ll bet he would never mention that in his list of how God speaks.  He used me to speak to myself ten years later!

    I realised that I had made some initial efforts to communicate better, but that commitment had faded.  I was convicted!  But I also wondered how I could produce more good content and also learn to implement the technology required to get it onto good platforms, and how I could be sure that it was presented well and attractively.

    WHERE GOD GUIDES, HE PROVIDES

    When Marti and I got back home, I had a “get-to-know-you-better chat” with one of our new staff members, Thiago, from Brazil.  I discovered that he had a broad and strategic grasp of social media; more than that, he was eager to help me communicate better.  Now, a year later, we have been doing a much better job.  Once again, I can say that when God requires a step of obedience, even when it seems it will be very difficult, he will provide the means for me—or you—to obey.

    We have produced many good videos, dozens of blogs, a lot of prayer letters and now, this past week or so, we have posted nearly 20 podcasts and will continue to post more.  If you like to listen to podcasts, you can find mine at:

                                                                 (Click one the picture)

    REMEMBER AND BELIEVE

    Can you remember some of the ways God has spoken to you?  Are you alert to hear his voice, and do you take steps to be sure you remember what has been said?  Do you actively believe it?  After all, that is why God speaks to you—so you can believe, and as you do, He works through your faith to bring His word to pass.

    Who knows, He might even speak to you through something I say.  He surely did speak to me through something I said a decade ago!

    Lynn Green.

  • Congregating in the Egyptian Desert

    Congregating in the Egyptian Desert

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    CONGREGATING IN THE EGYPTIAN DESERT

    Why would two to three thousand people from dozens of nations gather in the Western desert of Egypt (between Cairo and Alexandria) just to worship and pray?  There were no guest speakers, and the very long sessions were mostly prayer and worship.  In fact at one point the whole group simply sang the name of Jesus (sounds like “Yassu” in Arabic) for nearly an hour.  Why would over 300 Chinese risk coming to the event, knowing they are likely to be questioned by the Police and possibly punished on their return?  Why would people pay their own way, then sit on buses travelling under armed guard from Cairo to the desert and back each day – a journey that took at least three hours?

    Described that way, it sounds like torture to me — especially the idea of being in a tent in the desert with the temperature approaching 40 degrees C.  But it wasn’t!  Something very powerful happened, of which I can only give you a glimpse.  In fact trying to describe this event reminds me of the Apostle Paul’s phrase that we “see through a glass darkly”. 

    THE COMPLEMENTARY BODY

    Perhaps it helps to think firstly about who we are.  We are all created as individuals, and we differ immensely.  Some of us are very logical and concrete and linear in the way we think and live – I am one of those.  Others are deeply moved by symbolic gestures, visions and dreams or connections that remind them of scripture passages.  This kind of gathering tends to attract more of the people who get visions and dreams and see great significance in what sometimes looks like coincidences to me.  I need these people, and they need me.  Together we represent body, as Paul writes in I Corinthians 12, and we can safely discern what God is saying and doing – at least as much as He wants us to .  But, there will always be mysteries.

    ANCIENT “GODS” IN MODERN TIMES

    Let me back up a bit, though.  It didn’t start in the Western desert.  About ninety of us started in Aswan, in the region of Egypt where there were the most temples, obelisks and symbols of the ancient Egyptian gods.  These “gods” manifest themselves right through human history, and those who seek spiritual power often gravitate back to the symbols that appeared in Egypt about 5000 years ago.  I think especially of the sun god Ra.  Here are some obvious illustrations:  As I understand it, the family of the Japanese Emperor make a covenant with the sun god and that has a direct connection to their flag and national symbol of the rising sun. 

    That symbol appears in many other nations too, including Korea.  Freemasons and others have recognised the power in the symbols of ancient Egypt, so a couple of centuries ago they exported the obelisks from the Luxor region to the financial capitals of the world at that time.  These obelisks still stand in London, Rome (which has eight), Paris and New York; in fact about 25 nations have obelisks in their capital cities. These were all very important symbols of prosperity in the eyes of Freemasons, and so a huge amount of effort was put into dismantling, transporting and reassembling them all across the world.

    A SIGN TO US?

    To the modern mind symbols like that often don’t make immediate sense, and yet we see the significance of symbols throughout the Scriptures.  A central command of the Ten Commandments that God gave is that we should have no idols, and when you stop and think about the Biblical stories they are full of physical objects and acts that seemed to have direct spiritual power.  I am deeply convinced that some material objects represent a direct connection to spiritual power.  Interestingly, on the first day we began to worship in Aswan, with a number of Japanese believers present, a recently-erected 40 ton golden statue fell face downward in Okinawa.  It was exactly like the story of Dagon in Judges 16.  If you do a google search you can see a picture of it.  The statue was 38 metres high (125 feet).

    Here is what I think was going on both in Aswan and in the Western desert.  Firstly, Egypt is a spiritual “mother” nation, and is the source of historical spiritual power, but can also be a mother of nations for blessing.  We gathered in Egypt because we were convinced that God had said to do so, but gathering in Egypt alone does not give you power.  What gives power is when people come together across the usual social divides:  those can be national, racial, cultural, linguistic, economic or gender.  The list could go on and on, and has to include age.  I have been in many of these prayer and worship gatherings now, and the most notable characteristic of them is family affection.  When God’s people come together and bridge all the usual divides which cause conflict, then we fulfill the condition for exercising the authority that Paul describes in Ephesians 1 and elsewhere, when he says “we are seated with Christ … far above all principalities and powers”. 

    ARE WE UNDER OR OVER?

    We can get used to operating under the spiritual powers, and the divisions, suspicion, fear and even violence that they foster between different groups.  But the Body of Christ is called to oneness and interdependence across all these divides.  From that place we have the authority that the Bible describes. Sadly, we too rarely rise to that high calling of authority.

    So that is what we did in Egypt.  We let the Holy Spirit lead without a pre-planned agenda, and we ended up with a sense of God speaking into various nations, including China, Japan and Korea, but also with a day-long emphasis on the entire continent of Africa.

    I have to add one thing, otherwise these events could appear to have no direct application.  The Lord did bring a lot of encouragement to the Egyptians, who have experienced great discouragement and despondency, especially in the last decade or so. The Christians there are discriminated against, and the nation itself has experienced one huge setback after another. 

    So there were many words of encouragement to the Egyptians, but it was not only that.  On the second to last day, a soft-spoken Sudanese pastor stood to describe how much racial discrimination he had experienced at the hands of Egyptians, including the Christians.  It exposed another divide that God wanted us to close.  The Egyptian response was deep humility, worship, repentance, and asking forgiveness, not only of the Sudanese who were there but all the Africans, as they realised that they had discriminated on the basis of skin colour.

    Throughout the four days, we did not seek to address any of the spiritual forces, but we focussed on worshipping Jesus. As we did so some of these issues of division were dealt with indirectly and, I believe, the kingdom of darkness were dealt a mighty blow.

    The principalities and powers are forces of division, fear, hatred, and violence—all towards the end that the image of God would be eradicated from the earth.  However during a few days in the deserts of Egypt under a burning sun, we bridged  many of the divisions, and it seemed that God smiled—then He achieved some of His purposes all over the earth because a group of His people really did act as His body with Jesus as the Head.

    Lynn Green.